So I have a pretty old mobo, with 4 SATA connections.

It's a Tyan Tiger K8W S2875 Dual Opteron CPUs

 

Currently I have it running the 6-Disk version of unRaid with no problems:

parity device: pci-0000:01:05.0-scsi-0:0:0:0 host4 (sdb) ST3500641AS_3PM0GXQB

disk1 device: pci-0000:01:05.0-scsi-1:0:0:0 host5 (sdc) ST3250823AS_4ND1H8QH

disk2 device: pci-0000:01:05.0-scsi-2:0:0:0 host6 (sdd) ST3250823AS_4ND1F9G2

disk3 device: pci-0000:01:05.0-scsi-3:0:0:0 host7 (sde) WDC_WD2500AAKS-60L9A0_WD-WMAV21227686

disk4 device: pci-0000:01:04.0-scsi-0:0:0:0 host1 (sda) WDC_WD2500JD-22FYB0_WD-WMAEH2226171

disk5 device: pci-0000:01:04.0-scsi-1:0:0:0 (no device)

cache device: unassigned

 

Disk4 is connected to a PCI-to-Sata card. (this card has 2 sata connections)

I tried connecting disk5 to the second sata connection on the PCI card.

It boots,..and loads the tower web page,..but when it goes to prepare the drive,.it locks up the tower and it loses network connectivity. I kind of gave up on this until I could replace the mobo with a new one. (but if anyone has a solution,..great)

 

My real problem is that I took out the Parity drive and installed a WD10EALS 1TB drive.

When I power it on,..the screen just displays the name of the new drive and nothing else.

If I try to go into the bios,....it says it will,...but then displays the new drives name again.

 

I took it out and put original back in, and I'm back in business.

 

So,.am I out of luck until I buy a newer mobo,...with 6 sata connections?

 

 

any ideas? I'll even take stabs in the dark.

Take pictures of the screen when trying to enter BIOS,

Take pictures of the screen when trying to enter BIOS,

 

I'll certainly try,...if I remember correctly, it flashes pretty quickly.

Hopefully will have that tonight.

any ideas? I'll even take stabs in the dark.

 

A dark stab -> Don't forget power supply -- you may be pulling extra juice with the new drive -- weird things have happened if you are right at the teetering point.

Disconnect all of your drives (including your flash- to prevent unRAID trying to boot for now) except for the new WD10EALS and if you can get past the initial BIOS drive detection. If you can, then I would recommend running WDDiag/Data Lifeguard or Seatools to see if your new drive is faulty.

 

WD Testing Utilities

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?modelno=WD10EALS+&x=2&y=10

 

Seatools (designed for Seagate drives but can also test WD/Samsung/Hitachi etc)

http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/#

 

UBCD (Has both + lots of other useful tools)

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

 

Alternatively you could flash your BIOS or update the firmware on the drive if you are confident enough (both risk killing hardware).

 

Tyan Tiger K8W S2875 BIOS (06/07/06 - v2875_303)

http://www.tyan.com/archive/support/html/b_s2875.html

 

I tried to find a link for a firmware update for that drive but can't seem to find it anywhere on WD's site (likely a last resort anyway as some fw flashes void warranty). If both of the drive tests pass you could try running a HDTune benchmark (found on UBCD) and post a screenshot of the result. HDTune should have a built in function which takes a screenshot for you.

Here's a stab in the dark.  Some drives have jumpers set for sata 2, your motherboard looks like it only supports sata 1.  While most drives are backward compatible, if there is a jumper on that hard drive to switch between sata 1 or 2, you could try that.  Some drives even are hard set through their BIOS at a certain speed.  I know my Hitachi's are hard set for sata 2 only and I can only change them using the Hitachi software tool and they won't work on a sata 1 controller.  Not sure if it's your problem or not but figured I'd throw my two cents in.  Have you tried that drive on a controller that supports sata 2 or in another machine?

Disconnect all of your drives (including your flash- to prevent unRAID trying to boot for now) except for the new WD10EALS and if you can get past the initial BIOS drive detection. If you can, then I would recommend running WDDiag/Data Lifeguard or Seatools to see if your new drive is faulty.

 

 

Great idea! Guess I was too tired to even think last night. I'll be looking into all of these ideas tonight.

Here's a stab in the dark.  Some drives have jumpers set for sata 2, your motherboard looks like it only supports sata 1.  While most drives are backward compatible, if there is a jumper on that hard drive to switch between sata 1 or 2, you could try that.  Some drives even are hard set through their BIOS at a certain speed.  I know my Hitachi's are hard set for sata 2 only and I can only change them using the Hitachi software tool and they won't work on a sata 1 controller.  Not sure if it's your problem or not but figured I'd throw my two cents in.  Have you tried that drive on a controller that supports sata 2 or in another machine?

 

+1 to also trying in another machine

Well, I tried the disconnecting every drive and only boot on the 1TB drive,..no luck same issue.

I think it may be bios related as someone else had explained,..and I did find a bios update,..but I was hesitant last night to open a potential can of worms.

 

I'll probably live with what I have for now,..and scrounge up a few bucks to get a more modern mobo with 6 sata ports.

Then I'll need a cpu,...and ram,....ugh,..why can't things be free.

I marked this issue as solved,...not because it is,...but because my mobo is so old and I'll just replace it.

For now,..my unRaid is working perfectly with the drives in there now.